TURNING TO TURF

MOHAYMEN TRIES GRASS FOR FIRST TIME,

ELMONT, N.Y. – Mohaymen and Bar of Gold, two multiple stakes-winning horses on dirt, are looking to revive their careers on turf in separate allowance races Friday at Belmont Park.

For Mohaymen, this is his second attempt at making his first start on turf. This same multi-conditioned one-mile race was scheduled for July 7, but Mohaymen – and all seven runners in this field – scratched when rain forced the race onto the dirt. Rain is in the forecast again Friday, which is why trainer Kiaran McLaughlin entered Mohaymen in Saturday’s $150,000 Forbidden Apple Stakes at Belmont as a backup plan. Mohaymen would run in Friday’s ninth race provided the race remains on turf.

The pace complexion of this race is different from last week, and Mohaymen could be the primary speed.

“It looks like it’s void of speed,” McLaughlin said. “That’s going to be interesting. We’ll see how we break and how it unfolds. We could be close this time.”

Mohaymen, a son of Tapit, won the first five starts of his career, including four graded stakes. He has lost his last six, most recently finishing 11th of 12 in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap.

McLaughlin worked Mohaymen over the Oklahoma turf course at Saratoga on June 29 and said exercise rider Rob Massey felt a difference in the way the colt worked on turf as opposed to dirt.

“He said he finished well and that he took him there the last quarter,” McLaughlin said. “That’s not always the case on the dirt.”

McLaughlin said he would prefer the race to be run on firm ground, “not soft because you don’t learn a lot.”

This is no easy spot. Trainer Christophe Clement has entered the uncoupled entry of Lubash and Blacktype, each a graded stakes winner on turf. Lubash, a 10-year-old New York-bred son of Freud, is coming off a third in the Kingston. Blacktype, arguably the horse to beat in this spot, is coming off a third in the Grade 2 Dixie at Pimlico on Preakness Day.

Inspector Lynley and Mr Maybe are graded stakes winners. Kharafa is a seven-time stakes winner and a millionaire. Tombelaine is the least-accomplished horse in the field but is in the best form and hails from the Chad Brown barn.

In race 3, Bar of Gold, a fourtime stakes winner on dirt, makes her second start on turf. In April, her first start of the year, Bar of Gold finished fourth, beaten three lengths, after a wide trip in the Plenty of Grace Stakes at Aqueduct.

“It was her first race of the year,” trainer John Kimmel said. “That turf course at Aqueduct, it’s tough to go all the way on the outside. She probably got a little flat the last part.”

Kimmel, like McLaughlin, said he would prefer not to run on soft ground. Kimmel, unlike McLaughlin, said Bar of Gold would run if the race comes off the turf. Bar of Gold is 5 for 6 on a wet track.

On turf, Grand Jete certainly is the horse to beat. A 4-year-old daughter of Dansili trained by Brown, Grand Jete is 2 for 2 in the U.S., including the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth Park in her most recent start.

First post for Friday’s 10-race card is 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

BARBARA D. LIVINGSTON